


tell me how you feel (by captioning this)

by guiltylights



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Both Hinata and Kageyama are Dumb as Hell, Captain!Ennoshita, First-years as Second-years, Kageyama and Hinata Get Together with the help of Not-Instagram, Kageyama: Experiences Feelings, Kageyama: this must mean I want to FIGHT, M/M, Realising Your Feelings, Tsukishima is long-sufferingly helpful, also I know this is late but happy birthday to the angriest most precious boy, he's such a nerd I love him, that's it that's the fic it's literally just them and social media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 02:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13113936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guiltylights/pseuds/guiltylights
Summary: What follows next is a series of photo-video battles, as Kageyama and Hinata compete to see who can get the most unflattering candid picture out of the other. In a way, it’s not all that surprising – things between the two of them has always been a competition, some way or another, and the fact that this has also evolved to one is unsurprising to all, least of all Hinata and Kageyama themselves.After the first few photos, it stops becoming about revenge, but more just for fun.Hinata posts a photo of Kageyama in the middle of practice, where Kageyama looks particularly hideous; in the photo, Kageyama has his face all screwed up in a constipated snarl, and his stance is aggressive as he stares down hard at the volleyball he’s squeezing in his hands. He’s looking at the volleyball like it has insulted him and all his ancestors, and Kageyama wonders how the hell Hinata managed to get that shot because he doesn’t ever remember Hinata having his phone out in the middle of a practice.It’s a pretty shit shot, all blurry around the edges, but it features Kageyama’s face clearly and Kageyama guesses that that’s all Hinata really needs.





	tell me how you feel (by captioning this)

**Author's Note:**

> [Time started: 7th June 2017, 5:40pm;– ]
> 
> I originally wanted to finish this fic in time for Kageyama’s birthday, but in between Christmas preparations and going out and stuff, I didn’t manage to - regardless, happy birthday to the angriest, best boy there is! (Plus, this fic is really long. Like, my longest fic to date I think. What the fuck. Why. There is literally no plot)
> 
> Shoutout to [antikytheras](http://archiveofourown.org/users/antikytheras), without whom I would never have thought of this fic idea in the first place! I had mentioned on twitter how I believed that Kageyama and Hinata’s Instagrams would never be any sort of aesthetic thing, since they're both idiots, and antikytheras had replied with “i’d wanna see them drag each other on insta through shittily taken photos”, which resulted in me going, DING DING IS THAT A FIC IDEA I HEAR. HERE YOU GO.

.

.

.

.

.

The entire situation starts like this:

Hinata downloads this new application onto his phone, and he just _won’t shut up about it._

It’s this social media thing, where you can take pictures and upload it to an account under your name, and accompany it with captions or tags or whatever. Apparently it’s been all the rage since it came out, like, a month ago or something, but Kageyama has never really been one to keep tabs on stuff like that. Every inch of his being is usually focused on volleyball or other volleyball-related things (and, occasionally, schoolwork, when the need arises and he _has_ to not flunk out of school in order to continue playing volleyball), so it’s not surprising that Kageyama doesn’t really know jack shit about this new app. Doesn’t want to, for that matter.

Except Hinata keeps talking his (and everybody else in the general vicinity’s) ear off about this new app, about how _great_ and _cool_ it is and _check it out, Kageyama, I have like a hundred followers already, and I only started my account like two days ago, isn’t that awesome? Hey, you should get one too, that way we can follow each other!_

It’s only been a day, but Kageyama feels like tossing Hinata’s phone over a bridge, just so he’d stop talking.

“Ohhh, Shouyou, you have Pixagram too?! I just downloaded it, like, yesterday, we should follow each other!” Nishinoya pops out of nowhere over Hinata’s shoulder, a blue ice popsicle dangling from his mouth as he speaks. Kageyama barely avoids getting ice cream dripped all over his jersey.

Kageyama groans. “Don’t encourage him,” he tells Nishinoya. Kageyama was just suffering through yet another one of Hinata’s rants about the app, about how they recently added this new feature where you can post happenings of your day, and how it’s called _PixaStory_ or whatever – to be honest, Kageyama stopped listening about a minute in. The last thing Kageyama wants is for Hinata to become even _more_ obsessed with this new app.

It’s been feeling like recently, short of volleyball, Pixagram has become the number one thing in Hinata’s life.

Hinata lights up. “ _Oohhh!_ Nishinoya-senpai, what’s your username? I’ll add you right now!”

Nishinoya puffs his chest up.

“It’s _ROLLINGTHUNDER!_ All caps, with no space in between.”

A snort comes from their left. The three of them look up to see Tsukishima exiting the convenience store they’re standing in front of, holding a strawberry ice cream in his hand, with Yamaguchi at his side. “Nishinoya-senpai, to name your own account after your own receive is pretty embarrassing, don’t you think?”

Incensed, Nishinoya rolls up his sleeves. “What does that mean, huh?! You wanna fight, Tsukishima?! _You wanna fight?_ ”

Kageyama chooses to ignore the ensuing chaos that is Nishinoya getting increasingly riled up at Tsukishima as Tsukishima remains unerringly placid, opting instead to look over Hinata’s shoulder as Hinata types _R-O-L-L-I-N-G-T-H-U-N-D-E-R_ into his search bar, and presses _enter._ Sure enough, an account pops up, with a profile picture that displays a selfie of a grinning Nishinoya. Hinata taps on it.

Kageyama reads the account description. _Yuu. Karasuno Guardian Deity. LIBERO!!_ Beside Nishinoya’s name, there’s an emoji in the shape of a lightning bolt; and next to “ _LIBERO!!”_ , Nishinoya had added the rock-out hand emoji.

With a satisfied grin, Hinata taps _follow_ on Nishinoya’s account, before exiting the app and locking his phone. “Nishinoya-senpai!” He calls over his shoulder, where Nishinoya and Tsukishima are currently engaged in a stare-down (well, at least, Nishinoya is – Tsukishima’s mostly smirking). “I’ve followed you on Pixagram! Add me too!”

Nishinoya breaks out of his staring contest with Tsukishima to give Hinata a thumbs-up and a grin. “Of course!”

Tsukishima shoots Hinata a glance. “What do you even post on your account?” He asks. “I bet it’s just volleyball everything.”

Hinata bristles. “Not true! I post other things too! Like pictures of the weather when it’s nice out, or Natsu, or dinner if it’s really nice–”

“So you’re a spam-poster,” Tsukishima deadpans. “Stop cluttering people’s feeds.”

“Wha– _I don’t clutter people’s feeds!”_

“Alright, alright,” Ennoshita says, exasperatedly, intervening before things could get any worse. He puts his _captain_ face on. “Get going now, guys. Good work today. We’ll see each other tomorrow for afternoon practice – meanwhile, go home and get some rest.”

At the last sentence, Ennoshita shoots Hinata and Kageyama a meaningful look. Kageyama and Hinata look appropriately abashed; however, Ennoshita knows better. He sighs.

Ennoshita makes waving motions with his hands. “Okay, practice is over, you guys are dismissed. Now get out my sight, go on, _shoo._ ”

The team splits accordingly – the third-years go on walking straight onwards from the store, whilst Yamaguchi and Tsukishima turn left. The new first-years round back the convenience store to walk east. Meanwhile, Kageyama and Hinata turn right.

They walk in silence, for a while, before they pass by a park.

Kageyama looks at Hinata. “Wanna practice?”

Hinata grins.

.

.

.

They’ve been trading serves and receives for the better part of an hour, before Hinata finally gives in to exhaustion and flops onto the grassy ground. “A break, Kageyama,” he pants. “I’m tired.”

Kageyama spins the volleyball in his hands, before starting to bounce it on his forearms. “What, tired already? Didn’t know that your stamina was this bad.”

Hinata bristles. “Shut up, Kageyama!”

Actually, Kageyama’s feeling pretty tired himself, too, but he isn’t about to tell Hinata _that._ But he figures he can fit in a few more practice tosses before he gives in, and goes to sit next to Hinata for a break. Afterwards, they could maybe fit in another half hour of practice before they’d have to go home.

Kageyama kind of doesn’t want to leave. If they leave, Kageyama would have to stop playing volleyball, which is naturally something he detests. But recently, Kageyama’s been suspecting that there’s a second, underlying reason as to why he doesn’t want to stop playing with Hinata. The feeling’s hazy; Kageyama can’t pinpoint an explanation for it. All he knows is that he wants to drag on these after-practice sessions with Hinata for as long as possible.

Well, not that it matters. It isn’t affecting his ability to play anyway.

Kageyama concentrates on the volleyball in his hands. He pushes the ball upwards with the strength of his fingers, catches it when it falls back down with gravity, pushes it up again. It’s a constant rhythm, one he’s known since he was a child.

“Hey, Kageyama, try doing a serve! Like, a super cool one, all _gwaaah_ and everything!”

“Dumbass, I’m not gonna do that, the ball will end up flying somewhere in the bushes and then we’ll never get it back.” _Up, and down. Up, and down._ The ball rises and falls just as how Kageyama wills it.

“It’s fine, just do it! Anyway, it’s all, like, open space around us, the ball isn’t gonna fly anywhere or anything.”

 _Up, and down._ Kageyama briefly contemplates actually doing the serve, but he’s tired, and he really isn’t kidding when he said he’s worried about serving the ball somewhere where they’ll never find it. It’s dark out, now – nearly eight pm, he’d wager, and if they lose the ball in this light they’ll have no chance of getting it back.

“No, idiot. Just sit there and keep quiet, if you have nothing useful to contribute.” _Up, and down._

“Rude! C’mon, Kageyama, just do the serve. It won’t hurt anybody, c’moo _ooon_ –”

“Look here,” Kageyama says, getting irate, “I’m not doing the damn serv–”

Kageyama cuts himself off, then, because in the midst of arguing with Hinata, he’s neglected to concentrate on the volleyball in his hands, and he’s just dropped the ball. On his face.

There’s a beat of silence, and then Hinata’s guffawing, his laughter obnoxiously loud in the air as the ball bounces on the ground and rolls away. It stops at Hinata’s feet, where Hinata lies on the grass gasping as he struggles to catch his breath. His phone lies at his side, face-down and forgotten, and Hinata continues howling with laughter.

Meanwhile, Kageyama is just sort of standing there, stock still and stunned, his hands still raised in a setting position up in the air as his brain tries to comprehend what just happened. Hinata pauses, takes one look at Kageyama’s face, and starts laughing again.

“Jeez, Kageyama, your _face!_ Your goddamn _face._ ” Hinata wheezes.

Kageyama snaps out of it, and stomps over to where Hinata is. He can feel his face going red, the tips of his ears burning as he grabs Hinata by his collar and shakes him. “Stop laughing!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Hinata says, clutching his sides, “but that was so _funny._ ”

Kageyama tries forcing the embarrassment down, but his face is still screwed up in that angry scowl he adopts when he’s uncomfortable, and he knows he’s probably still pink as well. Kageyama shakes Hinata harder instead. “Idiot! You do the same thing like, almost every practice, so it’s not like you get to talk.”

Hinata stops laughing, and bristles. “Hey! I don’t do that _every_ practice.”

Glad of a subject change, Kageyama presses on. “So you admit to doing it more than me?”

“Shut up!”

It’s only then Kageyama realises how close they both of them have gotten– they’re almost nose to nose, and Kageyama can clearly see the brown of Hinata’s wide eyes as he glares indignantly into Kageyama’s.

Kageyama feels his stomach flip. He unceremoniously dumps Hinata on the ground, ignoring Hinata’s affronted “hey!”, and moves away.

“C’mon,” he says, instead, dropping the subject. Kageyama walks a distance away from Hinata, before turning to face him and settling into a receiver position. “We can still do about twenty minutes of practice before we have to go home.”

Grinning, Hinata dusts off his shorts, picks up the volleyball, and runs forward to join him.

.

.

.

Kageyama knows something is up the moment he steps into afternoon practice.

Tsukishima takes one look at him, and starts snickering. Tanaka and Nishinoya are beside themselves, clutching at their sides and howling with laughter the moment they spot Kageyama’s face, as though they’ve witnessed the greatest prank ever played in their lives. Ennoshita pulls on Tanaka and Nishinoya’s ears and gets them to shut up, but even he can’t help shooting Kageyama an amused look.

Needless to say, Kageyama is frustrated.

It’s only after Nishinoya glances his way and sniggers for the fifth time does Kageyama snap. When practice stops for a ten-minute water break, Kageyama grabs Hinata by the scruff of his neck and drags him out of the gym, steadfastly ignoring Hinata’s protests as he does so.

If something’s going on with himself, Kageyama just _knows_ that Hinata is involved with it.

“He’s dead now,” Kageyama overhears Tsukishima mutter to a wincing Yamaguchi on the way out, and this only serves to reaffirm Kageyama’s suspicions. His grip tightens on Hinata’s collar.

He drags Hinata out some distance away from the gym doors before letting go of his collar and spinning around. “What did you do?” Kageyama demands.

“What are you talking about?” Hinata sounds defiant, but his eyes are shifting guiltily and he’s fidgeting on the balls of his feet, so Kageyama _knows_ he did _something_.

“Everyone on the team’s been laughing at me for the entirety of today’s practice, and I bet that it’s because of something you did. _What did you do?”_

“I-I didn’t do anything!”

Kageyama eyes Hinata as he racks his brain, trying to work out what could be a possible reason to the fact that he’s been the source of amusement for the team the entire practice.

Kageyama’s mind stumbles onto a possibility. A horrifying feeling begins to dawn on him. It must show on his face, because Hinata makes an _eep_ sound and takes a step back.

“Is this about last night?” Kageyama asks slowly.

“What last night?”

Kageyama glowers. “Last night! When I dropped the volleyball on my face.”

Hinata shifts guiltily. “No, of course not! A-are you sure they’re laughing at you? Maybe you’re just being paranoid–”

Hinata’s a horrible liar. His entire being, from his body language to his change in tone to his shifting eyes, all scream the fact that he’s not telling the truth. Hinata fidgets, and Kageyama’s eyes catch onto the phone that Hinata is currently clutching. Hinata had been looking at his phone earlier, before Kageyama had grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out of the gym. The screen’s lit, showing that the phone’s currently unlocked.

When Hinata catches Kageyama staring, he quickly tries to move his phone out of sight. Kageyama’s eyes narrow.

Within seconds, Kageyama’s snatched Hinata’s phone out of his hands and is holding it up to his face, shoving Hinata’s face away as Hinata desperately scrabbles to reclaim it. Hinata’s phone is open on Pixagram, that app thing that he’s so into recently, and Kageyama scrolls through for a few seconds, trying to work out whether this has anything to do with the current situation. It’s not until he accidentally clicks on some icon in the right hand corner of the app does he see it.

The icon leads him to Hinata’s account profile. Kageyama would be distracted by Hinata’s icon picture, except that there are more pressing matters at hand. (It’s a picture of Hinata caught unawares and grinning radiant like the sun – Hinata’s seated at a table in the picture, so it seems like it was taken at home. Maybe Natsu took the photo.) What’s important is the video that Kageyama sees on Hinata’s account, a video that’s the most recent thing on Hinata’s Pixagram, a video that Kageyama can see he’s definitely in.

The bad feeling in Kageyama’s gut deepens, and he taps on the video, ignoring Hinata’s shrieks of _stop!_

The video starts playing, and Kageyama instantly recognises the scene – it’s from yesterday, when he had been practicing tosses in the park and Hinata had been taking a break. The camera work’s shitty, and the video is grainy, but the tall figure in the middle of the shot is undoubtedly Kageyama.

Hinata’s voice filters in over the video, boisterous and way too loud: _hey, Kageyama, try doing a serve!_

Video-Kageyama doesn’t even look away from the ball. Kageyama notes distantly that his form had been good, last night – the ball’s arc in the video has been constant, so far – before refocusing back on what’s happening. _Dumbass, I’m not gonna do that._ What follows next is what Kageyama remembers, only from a different point of view – him and Hinata bicker, and Kageyama watches as the arc of his ball becomes more and more erratic until, finally, it slips from between his fingers and falls flat on his face.

The video erupts into a loud explosion of laughter, all from Hinata, and the video shakes, spinning over to face the sky – back when Hinata had put his phone on the ground – before it finally cuts to black.

Kageyama’s numb. He’s in a state of shock, so much so that he’s pretty sure he’s already dead, as it is. His body’s ascended to another plane. Gone to live in Tibet in some mountains.

“Please don’t kill me.” Hinata whimpers.

Kageyama scrolls past the video, to where he can see the caption and the comments at the bottom.

 

 **thelittlegiant** _lolol Kageyama!!!_

 **ROLLINGTHUNDER** _HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THIS I’M DYING_

 **ryuu_theMAN** _AAAAAAAYYYYYYYY LMAOOOOOO_

 **tsuki_kei** _lol so the grand king isn’t as perfect as he makes himself out to be_

 **tadayams** _…you know kageyama will kill you if he ever see this, right_

 

Kageyama catches sight of the number of “likes”. _147._ He glances at Hinata’s follower count.

Two hundred.

“ _You posted a video of me from yesterday?”_ Kageyama yelps. _“And nearly three-quarters of your followers liked it?”_

Hinata perks up. “Yeah! It’s like, my most popular post to date, actually–” His babble gets cut off as Kageyama glowers at him, probably looking like he’s about to kill Hinata and bury him six feet underground. Kageyama feels like doing it, actually. Killing Hinata, he means.

“I’m sorry!” Hinata yelps.

“You freaking better be,” Kageyama snarls, shaking Hinata by the collar until Hinata’s head is jiggling on his shoulders. “Why the hell were you even filming me in the first place, dumbass–”

“Break-time’s over!” Ennoshita calls out from the gym doors, poking his head out and giving them a stern look. “Get back in the gym!”

Hinata’s only too glad to escape. “Yes, captain!” He chirps, quickly evading Kageyama’s growling hair-grab and darting into the gym, where at least he can be sure Kageyama can’t kill him there.

Kageyama stalks after him, incensed. Ignoring Ennoshita’s wincing-sympathetic pat on his shoulder, he stares after Hinata, already plotting out revenge in his head. He’s going to get even, goddamnit.

.

.

.

That night, Kageyama reclines in his chair at his desk, staring impatiently at his phone screen as it shows his downloads. He’s about ninety-percent there. Just a little bit more.

He’s never been that fond of social media in general, has never really known how to use it, but if it he needs it to get even, then he’s going to _learn_ , _damnit_. Ninety-six percent now.

At long last, Pixagram finishes downloading, and Kageyama triumphantly exits his download screen and hunts for the Pixagram app. It looks back at him in sleek minimalist black-and-white, on the last page of his phone’s applications, and Kageyama only hesitates a little bit before tapping it open.

Kageyama’s greeted with a front page: a “Welcome” written in a thin, classy font and two blank rows underneath labeled _username_ and _password_ . Kageyama squints at it in confusion. There’s a button beneath the blank rows that says _login,_ but Kageyama doesn’t even have an account yet.  

He begins to panic. Oh god, was he supposed to sign up at some other separate app before he downloaded this one? Was there some other procedure he was supposed to follow? Why didn’t he google this shit?

But after a few seconds of floundering Kageyama notices the tiny, blue _sign up_ button located at the bottom right corner of the screen. Sighing in relief, Kageyama taps on that, where he is directed to a new page.

 _What is your username?_  

Kageyama frowns. He thinks for a while, trying to think of a good account name. He’s tempted to just use _kageyamatobio,_ but even he can see that that’s so thoroughly unoriginal that Hinata would laugh at him to next week. He _could_ do what Tsukishima and Yamaguchi did and just put down a shortened version of his name, but _kagstobio_ just doesn’t sound right, somehow, and besides, the idea of sounding _anything_ similar to Tsukishima kind of makes him balk.

Kageyama thinks a little more. What does he like? Well, he likes volleyball. And he’s a setter, right?

Kageyama types in the username _settertobio._

The app informs him that his username is available, and Kageyama breathes a sigh of relief as he decides on a password and quickly breezes through the rest of the sign-up process. For his profile picture, he selects one of the Karasuno gym that he took some time before. He doesn’t really have any pictures of himself. He sets his account to _private,_ because Kageyama dislikes the thought of random strangers being able to see his posts.

Now it’s time to set a profile description. Kageyama mulls it over. He thinks back to when he saw Nishinoya’s. What had he started with? His name, right?

Kageyama types in _Kageyama Tobio._

Nishinoya had went on to put his moniker, and his position in the volleyball team, but Kageyama didn’t really have a moniker (aside from _King of the Court,_ but Kageyama doesn’t identify with that. Doesn’t want to be that, anymore), and his volleyball position is already in his username, so that’s a bit moot. Kageyama thinks over it some more.

He types in _I like volleyball._ After a second’s thought, he also adds, _And milk._ He likes volleyball, but if he makes his entire account _too_ volleyball-centric, Hinata’s going to make fun of him for it. For good measure, Kageyama even adds a milk box emoji.

His profile’s now complete. Kageyama eyes his followers and following count. Both zero. If his plan is to work, he’ll have to follow and be followed by his teammates, at least. Kageyama locates the search bar, and taps in Nishinoya’s username.

By scrolling through Nishinoya’s following list, he manages to locate the Pixagram account of every single Karasuno Volleyball Club team member, even Daichi, Suga and Asahi’s, who had graduated last year and are all now studying at university. It seems that he had been the only one on their team that didn't have a Pixagram account. Kageyama goes ahead and follows every single one of them with his new account, and then sets his phone aside to (reluctantly) start on his homework. Some of them have private accounts, like he does, and it’ll probably take a few days for his follow request to get through.

However, when Kageyama picks his phone up again two hours later, after attempting to struggle through – and giving up on – a set of math problems, he’s surprised to find that almost everyone that he’s followed seems to have noticed him, and have requested to follow him back. The only people he’s missing right now is Suga and Tsukishima. Sugawara-senpai is probably just busy, and Tsukishima, he suspects, is only ignoring his request just to be a dick.

Kageyama accepts every follow request except for one. Kageyama looks at Hinata’s follow request, sitting innocently in his list, before backing out of the page. He’ll accept his request – eventually. But first, Kageyama has something to do.

Kageyama grins wickedly, and sets about uploading his first post.

.

.

.

Kageyama accepts Hinata’s follow request two days later, a few hours before they have afternoon practice, and that’s when all hell breaks loose.

 _“What the heck, Bakageyama!”_ Hinata barrels into practice as a steaming ball of righteous fury, stomping up to Kageyama who is busy changing at the lockers, and indignantly glares at Kageyama right in the eyes. (Never mind that he has to crane up to do it.)

“What?” Kageyama deadpans, sounding for all the world that he’s disinterested and bored– but his face is doing that constipated, serial-killer thing he does when he’s secretly really pleased about something, and Hinata is one-hundred-percent _not fooled._

 _“What’s this?”_ Hinata fumes, shoving his phone into Kageyama’s face, where Pixagram is loaded.

The screen displays an unflattering picture of Hinata, taken when he was unawares, presumably by Kageyama himself. It’s after volleyball practice, during the time when the team walks home together; Hinata knows this because the picture’s taken in front of the convenience store they usually go to. In the photo, Hinata’s caught mid-sneeze, looking like he’d been in the middle of talking to someone out of frame when it happened. His nose is scrunched up, his eyes are squeezed closed, and Hinata looks like a half-dying mole rat crossed with an orange hamster. The popsicle that was originally in his hand is falling rapidly to the ground, freeze-framed in mid-fall in the photo. Hinata remembers dropping that popsicle. This picture’s from last Tuesday’s after-practice.

“How did you take this photo?” Hinata demands.

“With a camera.”

Hinata stomps his foot. “That’s not what I meant! I mean, _how did you take this photo without me knowing, Bakageyama.”_

Kageyama shrugs, turning back to his locker to put away his school uniform. “It wasn’t that hard. You have a lot of ugly moments like, all the time.”

“What the heck! I do not!”

“You do too.” Kageyama insists. And he isn’t lying – it had been ridiculously easy to get unflattering candid shots of Hinata in one practice alone. He has about four to five more shots saved in his phone’s camera roll, ready for use at any given time. “Blame yourself for being so unphotogenic.”

“That’s not a word.” Tsukishima deadpans from the side.

Hinata _fumes._ He turns the phone back to himself again, and reads the comments.

 

 **settertobio** _an idiot._

 **ryuu_theMAN** _lmfao is this payback_

 **ROLLINGTHUNDER** _o man the clapback is SO REAL_

 **suganspice** _welcome to pixagram, Kageyama!! why is this your first picture…?_

 **tsuki_kei** _@suganspice they’re both idiots, that’s why._

 **ennochi** _oh boy._

 

_10 likes._

Kageyama looks on with satisfaction as Hinata narrows his eyes at his screen. Revenge does feel sweet.   

Hinata turns his gaze to Kageyama. “Do you know what this means?”

“What?”

Hinata points a finger straight into Kageyama’s face. _“This means war.”_

(“Fuck,” Tsukishima mutters to Yamaguchi.)

.

.

.

What follows next is a series of photo-video battles, as Kageyama and Hinata compete to see who can get the _most_ unflattering candid picture out of the other. In a way, it’s not all that surprising – things between the two of them has always been a competition, some way or another, and the fact that this has also evolved to one is unsurprising to all, least of all Hinata and Kageyama themselves.

After the first few photos, it stops becoming about revenge, but more just for fun.

Hinata posts a photo of Kageyama in the middle of practice, where Kageyama looks particularly hideous; in the photo, Kageyama has his face all screwed up in a constipated snarl, and his stance is aggressive as he stares down hard at the volleyball he’s squeezing in his hands. He’s looking at the volleyball like it has insulted him and all his ancestors, and Kageyama wonders how the _hell_ Hinata managed to get that shot because he doesn’t ever remember Hinata having his phone out in the middle of a practice.

It’s a pretty shit shot, all blurry around the edges, but it features Kageyama’s face clearly and Kageyama guesses that that’s all Hinata really needs. Underneath the photo, Hinata writes, _lmao he looks like this, but probably he’s just thinking about what sort of milk to buy later._ When Kageyama sees this, he growls.

(He’s right, but Kageyama doesn’t give Hinata the satisfaction of knowing that.)

In response, Kageyama takes a video of Hinata on one of their many after-practice practices, where Hinata not only manages to miss serving the ball but _also_ drops the ball right on top of his head. Kageyama laughs himself to near tears, and later that night, whilst uploading the video to his Pixagram, captions it with the phrase _this is why I tell him to practice._

 

 **thelittlegiant** _RUDE_

 

They’ve started replying to each other’s posts, now. Hinata tags Kageyama in every single unflattering picture or video he takes of Kageyama, a little rectangle bearing the word _settertobio_ popping up if Kageyama taps on the screen. The little black shape makes Kageyama feel warm, somehow, fuzzy on the inside, even though it isn’t anything but a dumb tag, and isn’t anything special. Hinata tags other people in his pictures all the time. Yet, Kageyama unconsciously finds himself looking forward to any time his phone _pings_ with a notification that Hinata’s tagged him in yet another photo, even if he’s sure that the photo is nothing pretty.

Hinata starts mentioning him in his other photos, too. Whilst Kageyama’s Pixagram is mostly dedicated to the photo-war (with a few hesitant shots he takes of scenery around him – or sometimes animals, before they run away from him), Hinata’s account is stuffed full of random shots and videos, pictures of things around him that caught his interest. And Hinata is interested in a lot of things. In between every shitty photo or video of Kageyama there’s at least two of something else, be it some new bro pose that Nishinoya and Tanaka had come up with that Hinata had found cool, or a picture of the sunrise when he was on his way to school, or even pictures of Natsu, grinning widely into the camera with rice smeared around her cheeks. Hinata’s a compulsive type of poster, Kageyama’s realised – even all the other team members’ posts combined don’t add up to how much Hinata posts regularly. Half of Kageyama’s feed whenever he scrolls through it is just Hinata. And in at least sixty-percent of that content, Hinata mentions Kageyama – whether it’s Hinata tagging him in another shitty photo, or Hinata just mentioning Kageyama’s name in a comment, or calling on Kageyama begging him to help him win an online fight against Tsukishima.

Eventually, Kageyama puts Hinata on notifications on his phone, just to keep tabs on him.

Aside from Hinata, Kageyama’s taken a look at all the others’ Pixagram accounts too. Yachi is probably the one with the cutest profile, with pictures taken in sunny lighting and uploaded with good editing, cute little stickers of flower or smiley faces frequently added to the shots. Ennoshita’s account is warm, filled with everyday shots with friends or of food – but they’re taken in a way that betrays a certain kind of expertise. Apparently, Ennoshita does photography in his spare time, and he even has an alternate account dedicated solely to professional photography, where the photos are all expertly taken with careful lighting and an interesting play with angles that even Kageyama can tell stems from deep passion and serious commitment. When Kageyama had stumbled upon it, he had been impressed enough that he had clicked _follow_ on it without a second’s thought. Tsukishima, out of all the team members, posts the least often – but when he does, the photos are always cool and well taken, shot in a way that reflects Tsukishima’s personality, somehow. It makes Kageyama irate.  

But out of everyone’s accounts, he thinks he’s looked at Hinata’s the most.

 _Hinata Shouyou. Karasuno Volleyball Club. I’m not the Little Giant yet, but I will be some day!!!_ Next to his profile caption, Hinata had added a fist bump emoji.

Kageyama’s currently lying sideways face down on his desk, his phone held in front of his eyes as he scrolls through Pixagram. Or more specifically, Hinata’s Pixagram profile. He’s starting to get why Hinata raves about the app so much – it’s really quite addicting once you get into it. Kageyama’s eyes flick down to Hinata’s latest post; it’s of him, wearing a scowl and reaching out mid-grab, presumably to push down at Hinata’s head in response to some mistake Hinata did. He remembers when this was, remembers where Hinata took it. It had been near the park, on the way home after practice.

Kageyama’s eyes dart back up, to look at Hinata’s profile picture.

Recently, Kageyama gets a weird feeling in his chest whenever he sees Hinata. His heart does a weird little skip, the same way it does whenever he misses a step on a flight of stairs, or when he momentarily slips on the court after landing from a jump, or like during those terrifying split-second moments when he gets back a test and thinks that he’s failed (though in the case of the last scenario, that split-second feeling usually extends into dread, because more often than not, _yes,_ he _did_ fail that test and _no,_ it wasn’t that he read his marks wrongly). Ever since Hinata started regularly tagging him in those Pixagram pictures, Kageyama’s originally nebulous emotions from before have started to take on a more definite shape and form, though Kageyama is no closer to understand precisely what it is he’s feeling.

Kageyama thinks it might be some weird fight-or-flight response he’s starting to develop – probably his competitiveness with Hinata has grown to such an extent that now his body automatically tenses whenever he senses that Hinata is nearby. He frowns at the prospect.

This new… _thing_ (whatever it may be) that Kageyama is getting might result in some unpleasant consequences – just yesterday during practice, Hinata had bounded up to him chattering up a storm about his improvement with his receives, and Kageyama’s heart had stuttered in his chest so much that he had nearly punched Hinata in the face for it.  If this goes on, it might adversely affect Kageyama’s ability to focus on and play volleyball – and Kageyama definitely can’t let _that_ happen.

Kageyama sits up.

He’s going to consult people about this.  

.

.

.

Yamaguchi has a look of frozen politeness on his face; the kind of look that suggests he doesn’t know whether to laugh or take the other person completely seriously, because he doesn’t know whether the person he’s talking to is joking right now or not. Which Kageyama doesn’t get. He’s being completely serious right now, thank you very much; which is consequently why he’s not appreciating Tsukishima laughing himself to near tears next to Yamaguchi right now.

Normally, such offensive taunting would have Kageyama walking away from the scene immediately, but this time the matter is of grave importance (it’s _volleyball,_ which is basically the most essential thing). Since Kageyama needs advice from _somebody,_ and what with the third-year seniors having graduated and gone to university (Sugawara-senpai is usually who he goes to for advice), Kageyama had gone for the next best thing.

It’s just his luck, then, that at the time he came to look for the next best thing, said next-best-thing had coincidentally agreed to spend one lunch break going over English homework with Yamaguchi. It’s also just his luck that one blond, annoyingly smug bastard had decided to tag along with said English homework review session, so that when Kageyama finally found the next-best-thing, his other two batchmates also happened to be there, both ready witnesses to his dilemma. Kageyama sort of wishes that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima aren’t always together all the time, but he supposes he isn’t one to talk, what with him hanging out with Hinata almost always.

Aforementioned next-best-thing looks up at him with wide eyes, looking simultaneously frightened at Kageyama’s looming visage over her, yet at the same time, earnestly determined to help. Truly, Yachi Hitoka is too nice for her own good.

“Hinata… activates your flight-or-fight response.” Yamaguchi says slowly.

“Well, we can give him a _little_ credit, I didn’t think he even knew what that is.” Tsukishima, having calmed down to his usual impassive state, joins the conversation, though traces of a lingering amused smirk still curls at the corner of his mouth.

Kageyama bristles, but ignores Tsukishima for the matter at hand. Yachi has her face scrunched up into a thoughtful expression, looking as though she’s thinking very hard.

“I don’t know if that’s exactly what it is,” Kageyama grunts. “I just know I feel weird whenever I’m around him. I’d like some advice on how to make it stop, because I’m worried it’ll affect my ability to play volleyball.”

“Weird how?” Yachi asks.

Kageyama screws his face up. “Like… I’m jumpier. I get tense when he’s around me. Sometimes my stomach feels like it flips, and my heart goes all funny. A bit like how you feel when you miss a step on the stairs.”

Tsukishima stops smirking, and straightens up. “Your heart skips a beat?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Did it just start recently?” Yamaguchi asks.

Right at that moment, Kageyama’s phone buzzes in his hand. Kageyama glances down to see a cheerful rectangle on his lockscreen, informing him that Hinata has tagged him in a photo on Pixagram in black text. Kageyama unlocks his phone – the photo this time is one of Kageyama at his desk, sleeping with his face pillowed in his arms; his face is slack, there’s drool coming out of the corner of his mouth, and he looks decidedly unattractive. How does Hinata keep taking these?

Scowling, Kageyama taps out the comment _dumbass I’m going to kill you_ underneath the photo, before locking his phone shut. He looks up.  

“Well, no, it’s been happening for a while - but ever since I’ve started using Pixagram, and we started that online war, the feeling’s gotten stronger.”

Yamaguchi and Yachi exchange glances. Tsukishima stares, looking – for once in his life, Kageyama notes with a little satisfaction, though he has absolutely no reason to – a little bit stunned.

“What?” Kageyama asks.

“…Um…” Yachi ventures, looking tentative, “have you ever considered the possibility that maybe you… like Hinata?”

“Huh?” Kageyama frowns at the suggestion. “What are you talking about? Of course I like him – he’s my volleyball partner, and my friend.”

Yachi shakes her head frantically. “No, no,” she says hurriedly, “I mean as like… more than a friend.”

Kageyama tilts his head in confusion.

“Oh my god.” Tsukishima mutters.

“Like…” Yachi taps her chin with her finger. “Do you want to spend more time with Hinata? When he smiles at you, do you feel happier? Things like that.”

“Well yeah, I do want to spend more time with him, that way we can work on improving our quic–”

“Oh my god,” Tsukishima says, louder, groaning.

Kageyama glares at him, patience finally running thin. “Shut up!”

Tsukishima pushes away from where he had been leaning against the wall, next to the classroom windows. “Maybe you should inspect your own feelings before you tell anybody to shut up,” he sighs, irritably. “Look here, that thing you’re feeling? You have a crush on Hinata.”

Kageyama splutters. “What? No way!”

Tsukishima tilts his head to the side, sneering. “What else could it be? A fight-or-flight response? Really? Are you really that stupid, or have you just not been paying attention in biology class for your whole life?”

Kageyama feels his hackles rise. _“Bastard–_ how could I possibly have a crush on Hinata, we’re both guys–!”

“Why does that matter?” Tsukishima asks, coolly.

Kageyama stops short. So do Yamaguchi and Yachi, who, in the meantime, had been looking about two steps away from intervening between the two of them.

“What?”

“Things like that don’t matter, when it comes to who you like.” Tsukishima looks away for a moment, before turning to look Kageyama straight-on in the eyes.  

“Sort out your own feelings. What do you feel towards Hinata?”

Kageyama doesn’t know what to say.  

Having effectively stunned Kageyama into silence, Tsukishima brushes past him, and heads out towards the door.

“Yamaguchi, I’m heading to the bathroom – once you’re done here, I’ll meet you outside.”

“S-sure.”

In the wake of Tsukishima’s leaving, Yamaguchi and Yachi look cautiously at Kageyama, who is currently rooted to the spot with his fists clenched at his sides, looking – for the first time in a long while – genuinely conflicted and confused. Amidst the bustle of the classroom, the atmosphere surrounding the three of them is tense.

That is, until Yachi smiles earnestly and waves Kageyama over to her seat. “It’s okay, Kageyama,” she says. “We’ll help you figure this out! Right, Yamaguchi?” She turns to Yamaguchi.

Caught off-guard, Yamaguchi can only nod. “Y-yeah.” He glances at the clock. There’s still about fifteen minutes left to lunch break.

No way would Tsukishima take that long in the bathroom.

Yamaguchi looks back over at the doorway from where Tsukishima just exited, and sighs. A grin curls his lips, and he shakes his head. Turning back to Kageyama, who had just pulled up a chair, he leans forward.

“How about you start by telling us when this first began?”

.

.

.

By the end of the lunch break, Yamaguchi and Yachi have a set of neat, well-reviewed English notes, and Kageyama has his _feelings._

He stands right outside Yachi’s classroom door, clutching at his own chest in shock. He thinks he can’t breathe.

He likes Hinata.

He _likes_ Hinata.

 _He likes Hinata._  

.

.

.

After a weekend practice, Kageyama and Hinata walk home together.

Hinata’s talking animatedly about some show that he saw on tv last night, an anime or something, that features people with superpowers, and they go to a school to learn how to use those powers or whatever. Kageyama is kind of tuning him out. He’s eyeing the sky instead. It looks overcast, as though it might rain soon; Kageyama hopes that the rain would let off for at least a while – he wants to fit in at least half an hour of extra practice in the park later, before both he and Hinata have to go home from the rain.

“And like, the protagonist is really cool, he does these moves like–!”

It’s been about a week since Kageyama realised his crush, and things are not getting any easier. Seeing Hinata still makes his stomach go all funny, and if anything, _knowledge_ of the reason behind the reaction makes it all the more worse. Kageyama’s dealing with it by being snarlier with Hinata than usual. It’s like a sense of normalcy, a kind of balance that helps him stay sure-footed around Hinata.

“And right, in the latest episode, he fought against his classmate, and it was like all _swoosh–_ ”

Kageyama glances at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. _I like Hinata._

“Oi, Kageyama, are you even listening?”

Kageyama blinks. He looks down to see Hinata glaring up at him, face screwed up in an expression of annoyance once he realised that Kageyama hadn't been listening to a single word he had been saying. The expression used to make Kageyama feel like punching him. It still makes Kageyama feel like punching him, but now, to Kageyama’s dismay, he finds that he wants to punch Hinata because he _looks cute._

“Shut up,” he barks, instead. “Not everybody’s head is full of air like you!”

“Hey! You're one to talk, of all people _–_ ” Kageyama starts stalking forward, and Hinata runs a little to catch up. “Oi, where are you going?”

“To the park,” Kageyama calls over his shoulder. “Hurry up, and then maybe we can get to practice a little bit more before it rai _–_ ”

But as Kageyama says this, he feels the first cold splatter of water land on his cheek, and before long the sky above them cracks open, with rain falling down on them in a torrential downpour.

 _“Ahhhhh!_ Shelter, shelter, where’s the shelter, Kageyama?!” Neither Kageyama nor Hinata have umbrellas.

“Dumbass, how would I know?!” Kageyama shouts over the rain, as he and Hinata run side by side splashing their way through the streets in search of a place to shield from the weather. Christ, he can feel the water seeping into his clothes, his shoes, even his bag; luckily there isn't any more practice until next week, so Kageyama will get the chance to wash and dry his volleyball clothes before he has to wear them again.

Hinata tugs insistently on his jacket sleeve. “Kageyama, over there!”

The both of them duck under the safety of the sheltered front of a shop, gasping for breath and shaking their heads to get rid of the rainwater. Kageyama attempts to wring his clothes out; meanwhile, Hinata frantically checks his phone.

“Idiot, what are you doing?”

“I'm checking to see if my phone’s okay! If it gets wet, it might spoil, and my mum might not get me another one _–_ ”

Kageyama curses. _“Shit–”_ He digs around in his bag too.

Luckily, his phone had been buried somewhere deep in his bag just before it started raining, and it’s remained dry. Just to be safe, Kageyama clicks the home button - and his lock screen lights up, the display clear and unpixelated, evidently safe from any water damage. Kageyama heaves a sigh of relief.

“Ugh, that rain just came out of nowhere, didn’t it Kageyama? Now we’re gonna have to wait here until it clears, and there’s nothing for us to do _–_ ”   

Kageyama puts his phone away, into the same place it had been before, and looks out into the street instead. Hinata is still busy chattering next to him, into his ear. The rain looks heavy _–_ it doesn't seem like it’s going to stop any time soon. He runs a hand through his wet hair. How's he going to get home? His house is still quite a ways from here; he supposes he could run his way home, but Kageyama doesn't really fancy getting soaked to the bone. And not to mention, Hinata _–_ if Kageyama’s house is far, then Hinata’s is basically secluded, what with it being over the mountain a bicycle’s ride away. There's no way in hell Hinata can run home in this weather without getting completely drenched.

Kageyama sighs under his breath. Guess they’re stuck here.

It is then that Kageyama notices that Hinata has suddenly turned suspiciously quiet next to him. Whenever Hinata is quiet, it bodes nothing well for Kageyama _–_ it usually means Hinata’s thinking too hard about something, or he’s planning something, or he’s keeping something from Kageyama. All of which, from past history, has led to nothing but disaster for Kageyama, whether on the court or in everyday life.

Sure enough, when Kageyama turns his head, what he sees is Hinata, with his phone held out in front of him, camera lens pointing his way with a finger all poised to take a picture.

Kageyama swears. _“Dumbass, don’t take a photo–”_

Kageyama swipes at Hinata’s head. Hinata, long used to Kageyama’s tendencies, easily ducks out of the way; but what’s unusual is that, after ducking, Hinata skitters out of the way, scuttling backwards from Kageyama as far the shelter allows, looking flustered and a little frantic.

Kageyama growls. _What?_

“Oi, you better not post that photo on Pixa–” He takes a step forward.

Hinata all but shrieks. “Ah, I just realised I got to get home early today, mum and Natsu’s waiting at home, so I’ll take my leave first, see you Kageyama!”

“What? It’s raining right now–”

 _“See you, bye!”_ Hinata yelps and, before Kageyama’s very eyes, dashes straight out into the rain, racing out into the street and turning left at a corner before disappearing out of sight. Kageyama’s pretty sure Hinata’s house isn’t that way. He’d give chase, but Kageyama really doesn’t want to get drenched, and anyway he’s too busy being stunned to be able to properly run after Hinata.

Dumbfounded, Kageyama can only watch Hinata’s back as he vanishes.

.

.

.

In the end, the rain lasts for so long that Kageyama just runs home in the rain, reaching home soaked to the bone. He tosses all his clothes into the laundry basket, peeling off sopping wet layers, but as luck would have it, it turns out that his phone came into contact with some water and now won’t switch on. No matter how many times Kageyama tries restarting his phone, the screen stays stubbornly black and unresponsive.

With an irritated sigh, he places the phone into one of his desk drawers and slides it shut. He’ll ask his mum about it when she gets home - no doubt that she’ll give him an earful about being responsible and to always bringing an umbrella, but Kageyama supposes there’s no helping it. He wants a new phone as soon as possible. At the rate he’s going, he’s going to lose the Pixagram photo-video war he has going on with Hinata, and Kageyama hates the idea of losing at _anything._

Kageyama throws himself onto his bed, volleyball in his hands, and absentmindedly starts tossing it up and down towards the ceiling.

Not to mention, there’s still that one photo that Hinata might’ve taken earlier - Kageyama’s sure that any photo of him from back then, all rain-drenched and wet, would no doubt not be hideous, and he’s not looking forward to seeing _that_ uploaded on social media.

Kageyama scowls.

.

.

.

Kageyama knows something is _up_ the moment he steps into practice.

The first-years send him furtive looks the entire time he changes. Nishinoya and Tanaka barge into practice loud and rowdy as usual, but when they spot Kageyama, they double-take and go still, and then proceed to _scrutinise_ him as though they’ve never really seen him before. Even Yamaguchi keeps glancing over with wide eyes, looking him over from head to foot as if disbelieving something. It makes Kageyama feel uncomfortable.  

But even more suspiciously, when Hinata steps into practice and catches sight of him, Hinata immediately turns around and dead-on _sprints_ away from the practice room.

Kageyama gapes.

Tanaka laughs uproariously, and ruffles Kageyama’s hair. “Oh man, I've never seen that kind of reaction _ever_ – you absolute sly devil, you!”

“Huh?”

“Don't act shy now, all of us know about it already!” Nishinoya chimes in, repeatedly slapping Kageyama on the back. “C’mon, spill the details.”

“Um, senpai, what are you talking about?”

Yamaguchi inspects Kageyama’s face. His eyes widen. “You really don't know?” He asks, startled.

“If I did, I wouldn't be asking!” Kageyama barks, hating the feeling of being left out of the loop.

“Have you been on Pixagram recently?”

Kageyama shakes his head. “After the last practice I got caught in the rain–”

“We know about _that,”_ Nishinoya interrupts gleefully.

“–so I haven't been on my phone since the weekend.”

Tanaka and Nishinoya stop, and then tear away to look at Kageyama. “Wait, so you don't know what Hinata posted?”

“No?” Kageyama scowls. “Did he post some really shitty picture of me again, I'm going to kill him–”

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi exchange a look. “Um, well, not exactly,” Yamaguchi hedges.

“Then?”

Nishinoya, who had pulled out his phone just before and started tapping furiously at it, now shoves his phone screen in front of Kageyama. “Look!” He insists.

Kageyama squints at the screen. It's open on Pixagram, on Nishinoya’s account, except that it's currently loaded on Hinata’s profile, if the username **thelittlegiant** at the left hand corner of the screen is of any indication. There's a photo underneath the username.

It's a photo of him.

Kageyama’s eyes widen. The shot has him in a side profile, looking out onto the street. Kageyama recognises the street, recognises the shelter he's under– this photo is from the last practice, when he and Hinata had gotten caught in the rain. His head is tilted up, and he has a hand through his hair. For once, Kageyama’s not caught with an angry expression; rather, his face is relaxed, placid in the way his mouth is slightly opened in an exhalation with his left arm loose at his side. He looks almost...handsome.

Kageyama lifts a finger to scroll down and look at the comments, and subsequently has a heart attack.

 

 **thelittlegiant** _what the heck why’s my setter so pretty????_

 

 _My setter._ Kageyama thinks he might’ve suddenly forgotten how to breathe. 

 

 **ryuu_theMAN** _omfg “my setter”???_

 **ROLLINGTHUNDER** _COGRATULATIONS_

 **tadayams** _@ROLLINGTHUNDER you spelled “congratulations” wrongly…_

 **tsuki_kei** _oh my god. there’s obvious, and then there's this_

 

Kageyama glances at the “likes” number.

_200 likes._

“I suggest you chase after Hinata now,” Tsukishima says, sounding bored.

Kageyama tears out of the locker room, after Hinata’s figure.

.

.

.

 _“Dumbass, stop running!”_ Kageyama roars at Hinata’s racing figure ahead of him. Hinata’s got a precious five minutes head start from when Kageyama had been shown the Pixagram post, but whilst Hinata is speedy, Kageyama’s got longer legs, and before long he’s caught up to the red-haired boy at the front.

 _“Don't come near me!”_ Hinata yells, and Kageyama would be insulted, except that the look Hinata throws at him over his shoulder is not furious, but more panicked and flustered, and the hope it swells in Kageyama threatens to burst his ribcage.

Kageyama uses this burst of motivation to close the gap between him and Hinata, and grabs hold of a handful of Hinata’s jacket, yanking him back as Hinata yelps ungracefully. Even then, Hinata struggles in Kageyama’s grip, flailing like a frantic wild animal caught in a trap as he endeavours to escape.

“Let go of me!”

“Not until you explain that Pixagram post you made!” Kageyama yells, shaking Hinata in a bid to stop him moving.

Hinata goes limp. “What's it to you?” Hinata mutters, sounding petulant.

Kageyama scowls. “Huh?”

“I mean, after I posted the picture and even tagged you in it, you didn't even respond or anything so clearly it's not as if you care about how I feel or whatever!” Hinata bursts out.

Kageyama stares, his heart hammering painfully, _hopefully_ hard in his chest. His grip on Hinata slackens.

“Originally it was an accident, you know? I didn't mean to type that, really, but then by the time I realised a lot of people have liked and commented on it already, and like all the comments were actually pretty positive, and i don't know, I just thought maybe, Yamaguchi did tell me to do it only when it feels right, and this way at least it would be easier than saying it in person and like–”

“Say _what_ in person?” Kageyama interrupts. “ _What_ feelings?”

Hinata spins around, and glares at Kageyama, his cheeks flushing bright red. _“I like you, you idiot!”_

Kageyama wonders if he’s dreaming. It's only been a week since he’s realised his feelings, yet here he is, with the subject of his crush, said crush confessing to him in the middle of a school courtyard like it's some goddamn shoujo anime. Just to be sure, Kageyama reaches up and slaps himself hard.

Hinata jumps. “What the–”

The slap stings. It tells him that this moment, this moment right now, is real, and it tells Kageyama that no, he isn't dreaming, and that Hinata really, actually likes him back.

Unable to contain his emotion, Kageyama reaches out, and pulls Hinata into his embrace.

Hinata squawks.

“I broke my phone over the weekend,” Kageyama says into Hinata’s shoulder. “After you ran away, I walked home in the rain after our last practice, and my phone got drenched. I haven't been able to use it since.”

Hinata makes a noise, and Kageyama pulls away to see Hinata furrow his eyebrows. “Wait, so...you haven't been on Pixagram?”

Kageyama nods. His hands are still gripping Hinata’s shoulders.

“You didn't see the picture?”

Kageyama shakes his head. Hinata looks even more confused, but Kageyama clarifies, “Nishinoya-senpai showed me in the locker room just now.”

Hinata frowns. “Oh.”

“And I like you too,” Kageyama blurts out.

And just like that, Hinata’s face, which had previously been cooling back down to a normal colour, immediately erupts back into a full bright blush, the red reaching from the roots of his hair all the way down to his neck. Kageyama’s pretty sure he’s not much better - his face is really warm, and he can feel his face doing that scowly thing he does when he's nervous or excited, but Kageyama stands his ground and stays in front of Hinata, instead of running away like his entire being is telling him to do.

Hinata ducks to peer up at Kageyama’s face, his own cheeks still crimson but his eyes probing searchingly into Kageyama’s. “Are you making fun of me?” He asks.

Kageyama shakes his head.

“You really like me?” Hinata clarifies.

Kageyama nods his head. He’s blushing so furiously now that he thinks his face might be on fire. He can’t hear much over the sound of his heart hammering in his ears. Kageyama nods, and waits for Hinata’s next reaction; a yell, a smile, a response, _something_.

What he doesn’t expect is for Hinata to jump forward, and to tackle him straight to the ground in a hug, yelling all the way down. Kageyama staggers, and loses his footing; he goes down like a pile of rocks, Hinata on top of him, and they collapse together into a heap on the dusty dirt courtyard.

 _“Dumbass–”_ Kageyama yells, furious, as he struggles to sit up. Hinata’s seated on top of him, his legs on either side of Kageyama’s hips; in this position, Kageyama can only prop himself on his elbows to glare up at Hinata in front of him. It’s a lucky break that the both of them landed safely– what if either of them had twisted their leg? They wouldn’t be able to play volleyball for _weeks,_ everything would be _ruined_ –

Kageyama’s thought process is interrupted when he feels something warm press against his mouth. Hinata’s cheeks smushes against Kageyama’s as he kisses him; Kageyama can feel Hinata’s hands, hot on his face as they curl around his jaw. It’s only a quick kiss, chaste, barely a few seconds, but it makes Kageyama’s brain all but short-circuit, leaving him speechless even as Hinata pulls away.

“Kageyama!” Hinata yells.

“W-what?” Kageyama stutters; he’s still trying to remember how to speak.  

Hinata beams at him. “I like you.”

Kageyama flushes brilliantly, again.

“D-dumbass, I don’t need you to tell me that!”

.

.

.

 _“C’mon, guys, I’m serious! Help me out here,” Hinata whines at Yachi, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, the four of them seated together around Hinata’s desk with books scattered on top of it. The three of them_ were _supposed to be teaching Hinata the basics of geometry; but Hinata’s gone and tossed that idea out of the window. Though to be fair, they should have expected this._

 _“What is there to help?” Tsukishima sighs, annoyed, as he pushes his book away from him. “So you like the King_ – _big deal.”_

 _“It is_ so _a big deal!” Hinata yelps. “Liking him first is like, like losing! I’ve_ lost _to him!”_

_“It’s a competition?” Yachi sounds genuinely confused._

_“First?” Tsukishima smirks. “Oho, confident, aren’t we.”_

_Hinata turns red. “Shut up.”_

_“Why don’t you try confessing?” Yachi suggests._

_Hinata throws himself onto his desk dramatically. “But I don’t even know if he likes me or not!” He complains._

_And there’s the true crux of the issue; Hinata rests his forehead against wood. Hinata doesn’t know if Kageyama feels the same way or not, and he’s scared that if he does anything, he’s going to jinx it. Jinx having Kageyama by his side, jinx having a volleyball partner and teammate and being around one of his closest friends. Hinata doesn’t want to lose what he currently has, but he also wants more. He’s greedy. Hinata pouts miserably._

_Yamaguchi pats Hinata’s head sympathetically. “Why not just take it day by day?” He suggests. “You don’t have to tell him if you’re not ready – just go with whatever feels right.”_

_Hinata sighs, and looks up. “...Yeah, I guess.” He agrees after a moment’s silence._

_Hinata grins at Yamaguchi, cheered. “Thanks, Yamaguchi.”_

_Yamaguchi smiles back. “Anytime.”_

_“Now that that’s dealt with,” Tsukishima says briskly, “can we get back to the subject at hand? Honestly, Hinata, from the way you’re answering these questions it’s like you never even attended school–”_

_“Hey!”_

.

.

.

After Kageyama finally gets a new phone, one of the first things he does is download Pixagram and sign in into his account. After a solid week of not having been online, his notifications is full of Hinata, tagging him or mentioning him in picture after picture; it makes his heart feel fuzzy inside.

The latest notification catches his eye; it’s of a recent photo that Hinata posted, just a few hours ago, and apparently he’s tagged Kageyama in it. Kageyama taps on his screen.

A picture fills his sight; it’s one of him and Hinata, or more specifically, their hands, interlocked and clasped together. There’s no mistaking the jersey sleeve, and who the hand on top of Hinata’s belongs to– for good measure, Hinata’s even tagged Kageyama right in the middle of that hand, _settertobio_ popping up in clear text whenever Kageyama checks the tags.

 

 **thelittlegiant** _:)))))_   

 **yacchan_** _!!!!! congratulations!!!!!!!!_

 **suganspice** _omg congrats!!_

 **ryuu_theMAN** _hell YEA Hinata go get ‘eM_

 **tadayams** _finally…_

 **asazuman** _wait, so they hadn’t been dating before…?_

 

Kageyama smiles fondly.

 

 **settertobio** _idiot_

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.

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**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Pixagram is an actual thing that exists. It’s not a social media app, though, but a picture-editing application. Idk where this falls under copyright law honestly,,, nobody sue me,,, 
> 
> Did any of y’all spot the boku no hero academia reference I dropped in there? Side note: I have never watched that show. I WILL eventually, but at the point of writing I have not watched it.
> 
> If any of y’all need a reference to what I was imagining when thinking of Kageyama caught in the rain, it’s [this](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/71/c3/fe/71c3fe6ea4c2cc1bc9021a232c4bbaf8--otaku-anime-manga-anime.jpg)
> 
> By the way, I’ve got a [tumblr](http://guilty-lights.tumblr.com/) so come drop by and scream at me about these boys if you’d like!
> 
> [Time ended: 24th Dec 17, 1:46am;– ]


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